Authorities said Hamzeh wanted to shoot at least 30 people at the Humphrey Scottish Rite Masonic Center at the corner of Van Buren and Wells streets. He told an undercover informant that he wanted to show "nobody can play with Muslims" and spark more mass shootings in the U.S.

The public defender's office has said his attorney will likely focus on the accuracy of undercover recordings that were made in Arabic and translated into English and on what informants were contributing to the conversations.

Hamzeh, who was born in New Jersey, has been charged with unlawfully possessing a machine gun and receiving and possessing improperly registered firearms after purchasing the items Jan. 25.

WISN 12 News discovered Hamzeh was fired shortly before his arrest for being hostile at work.

Hamzeh was let go from the downtown 9Rounds Fitness kick-boxing gym after working there as a trainer for three weeks.

"He wanted to work full time, but we were like, ‘You need to be nicer to the customers if you want that,’” Rebecca Marschner said.

Marschner said Hamzeh was often aggressive with clients and wouldn't listen to his managers.

"He is a young kid – 23 -- so I was like maybe he just can't handle direction very well,” she said.

But then he started using offensive language toward the United States.

"When he started talking about America's government, that shot up a huge red flag. He was all about how terrible of a government we have, yet he lives in America,” Marschner said.

Hamzeh remains jailed without bail at least until his next court hearing, which is scheduled for late March.